The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it is not extending its SIM card registration deadline past June 30 despite problems that some subscribers have allegedly faced.

“We are not extending the deadline. This exercise has been on for two years now," director for public affairs at the NCC, Tony Ojobo, said in response to an appeal by National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS).

NATCOMS on Wednesday called for a three-month extension of the exercise because of what it said have been various problems affecting the registration of SIM cards in the country. Among the problems faced have included failures by agents to adequately gather all required information from subscribers, said NATCOMS.

The subscribers association also argued that the June 30 deadline falls on a Sunday, a non-working day, and that this could inconvenience subscribers.

Ojobo, though, has said the telecoms service providers had to make arrangements with subscribers to ensure they complied.

"The NCC cannot give the companies direction on how to carry out registration on that day. The NCC is not a service provider. NCC itself has stopped SIM registration,” he said, while referring to the agency’s initial direct role in the registration process.

The NCC's sentiments paves way for the commission to disconnect all unregistered SIM cards.

There are more than 100 million subscribers across the four mobile network operators in Africa's most populous country of 162 million.